Wisconsin Republicans' Voter Obstruction Looms in 2018 Mid-terms

Republicans talk a good game about the flag,
but when it comes to protecting voting and
the substantive liberties of Americans,
Republicans are a grave threat to democracy.

Urban types have 'too much access to voting,' say Wisconsin Republicans

Madison, Wisconsin—Since 2011 Wisconsin Republicans and only Republicans have transformed election law to benefit Republicans and diminish voters' right to vote.

In U.S. District Court in July 2016, a federal judge, James Peterson, in a sweeping opinion found several Republican-enacted statutory changes to election law pretextual, which is legalese for deceitful and misrepresentative, (One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen).

But stopping non-Republican voters from voting is a strategic initiative for Wisconsin Republicans. The urgent and grave threat to democracy is existential. See See Twenty of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy. They're scared. "If current trends continue for another 20 or 30 years, democracy will be toast."

As the mid-term campaigns for 2018 begin, Republicans know their only chance for victory is to suppress the total vote of non-Republicans, a commitment about which they hold no shame and indeed are proud as it serves to install Republicans against popular opinion.

On The Rachel Maddow Show last night, a segment points to a new analysis on Republicans rigging the Wisconsin 2016 election, a feat to they hope to repeat in 2018, (Berman, Mother Jones).

This is critical reading for citizens concerned about the health of our Republic under attack by the Republican Party.

Notes Berman:

The voter ID law was one of 33 election changes passed in Wisconsin after Walker took office, and it dovetailed with his signature push to dismantle unions, taking away his opponents’ most effective organizing tool. Wisconsin’s Legislature cut early voting from 30 days to 12, reduced early voting hours on nights and weekends, and restricted early voting to one location per county, hampering voters in large urban areas and sprawling rural ones. It also added new residency requirements for voter registration, eliminated staffers who led statewide registration drives, and made it harder to count absentee ballots.

Republicans were explicit about the purposes of these changes as well. On the floor of the state Senate, Grothman said of extended early voting hours in heavily Democratic cities like Madison and Milwaukee, 'I want to nip this in the bud before too many other cities get on board.' (Roughly 514,000 Wisconsinites voted early in 2012; they favored Obama over Mitt Romney by 58 to 41 percent, according to exit polls.) The county clerk of conservative Waukesha County said early voting gave 'too much access' to voters in Milwaukee and Madison. Judge Peterson later ruled the early voting cuts had been passed 'to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee’s African Americans.' 

Republicans will continue their attack against voting in 2018.

A looming target is the city of Madison's effort to offer voting for voters and a continuing effort to educate citizens about their legally strong voting rights, a political and civil crime in Republican-land.

See Madison, Wisconsin Fights Republican Voter Obstruction, and 2017 Spring primary election draws record-breaking early voting in Madison.

From The Rachel Maddow Show: